Monday, February 02, 2004

All Super Bowl, All the Time

Just when I thought that Michael Powell, Colin's kid, was asleep at the wheel of the Federal Communications Commission, he has worked himself into a lather. Is the subject of his indignation media consolidation or some other issue that effects the democratic way of life? Mais non! Janet Jackson's bare boob has our chairman's shorts in a knot. He was shocked, outraged and angry for the entire Powell clan! Read about it here. Hopefully Powell fils (I'm feeling French today) will learn to love being angry and speak up on behalf of his employers, the American people. Perhaps he will no longer whine when the public have the gall to tell him they don't want to be controlled by an ever growing media behemoth. In a New York Times interview last year he complained that American citizens were running "a political campaign against the commission." What was the great sin committed by the unwashed masses? They ran a "grass roots campaign."

Something must be done and rapidement. We can't have Americans talking back to their government masters. I really feel sorry for the republicans. No matter how much power they have it is just never enough. Black Commentator has a brilliant take on the corporate media and the damage it has already done in this presidential election year.

Houston, We Have a Problem

Watch out for those "wardrobe malfunctions." Last night I kept turning to the Super Bowl to see if the much vaunted half-time show had started. They are always over produced and over the top, but that is what makes them such great guilty pleasures. You can imagine my surprise when I saw Janet Jackson's bare bosom. I asked myself, "Can that be Janet's breast?" I replied, "No, it can't be. I must be more tired than I thought. I'm seeing things that aren't there."

The aplogies began even before the game ended. MTV apologized, CBS apologized, the NFL apologized and Justin Timberlake, the exposer, issued the same lame apology that everyone gives when they know they have done wrong. "I am sorry if anyone was offended." Perhaps Mr. Timberlake should try this on for size. "I apologize profusely to Janet Jackson for the embarassment that I caused her. I know that many viewers were also offended but I ask them to understand that the incident was in now way intentional. I also deeply regret the embarassment I caused the NFL, CBS and MTV."

I am also trying to decide if the announcers were correct when they ignored what millions of people clearly saw. They could have said, "Ladies and gentelmen, we don't know why Justin just exposed Janet's breast, but there will be no instant replay." A simple statement like that would have kept me from thinking I had lost my mind. Of course, they may have been shocked and not known what to say. I will give them the benefit of the doubt, but in the future there should be a new rule. If the viewers saw it, talk about it.

Margaret Kimberley

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